COLLEEN’S LETTER
Colleen was my aunty, your mother, your nanna, your sister in law,
your friend, or had another connection with you. I’m sure that
whatever your relationship to her was, you were deeply touched by
her, and have come here today to help send her off in style, to
remember her and tell some stories about her life with you.
In this talk I have written a letter to Colleen to tell her some things,
possibly some things that I should have told her before she was
taken away from us.
Dearest Colleen,
I have known you all my life, and I love you dearly.
We spent many happy childhood days playing together, making up
games and enjoying ourselves at our house. Do you remember that
day we were playing doctors and nurses, down the driveway and in
the old garage? I think Maureen, my beloved sister, might have
been the patient.
We had fun, good clean fun, just like kids have.
When you were a young mother you let me “experiment” on your
kids to help further my studies in education and psychology. We all
seemed to enjoy that and it helped me get to know Donna and
Scott.
I hope I didn’t have too bad an effect on them with my experiments
– anyway, they don’t seem to hold it against me now. So, Colleen,
thanks for that.
Oh, and by the way, Mum tells me that you are like a daughter to
her, so she is going to miss you a lot. Maybe you can talk to mum
to tell her you are okay. At least now you are at peace, and I believe
you maintained your grace and dignity until the end, until your last
breath. Thanks for showing us how to do this.
As we got older we went our different ways, but were always close.
At least now that you are gone I can be reminded of you by your 4
lovely children, who demonstrate what a great job you did as a
mother and as a friend. Donna, Scott, Mandy and Corinne, I know
you appreciate what a wonderful person your mum was, and you’ll
carry on her work of making the world a better place.
And I want to congratulate you on your special friend Mal, who will
miss you a lot. I bet you are sad at leaving such a catch behind.
And yes, I can hear you say, many friends of yours are special, and
all I can say is that they will all miss your friendship, your laugh,
and your willingness to be there and help out when you can.
Colleen, I and everyone you touched is sad to see you go; we’ll
miss you. Life is not fair, and you are proof that the good can die
young.
Your loving nephew,
Phil
So now, to everyone here, there might be a lesson to be learned.
Make sure your loved ones know how much you care about them –
tell them sometimes, give them a hug, and remember what is
important in life.
Thank you all…..